It seems like only yesterday that local cinemas were starting to introduce 2K and 4K projectors into their largest theaters and already Epson has announced that they’ve created the first 4K HTPS TFT liquid crystal panel. The projector, according to a press release from Epson, will be optimized by a newly developed method which promises high brightness, high contrast and of course, high resolution.

They also state that thanks to C2 FINE technology, they are able to achieve not only a smooth picture, but impressively dark blacks. The panel measures only 1.64 inches, which means that integration into a more compact projector should be simple. That’s a welcome change to be sure for anyone planning on picking up a 4K projector in the near future.

Epson hasn’t announced a projector to go with this panel as of yet. We’ll likely know more about Epson’s 4K plans when the panel is shown at Tapei’s InterBEE2009 at the end of this month.